Future floods could leave much of Delta under water

Climate change scientists are warning that the B.C. community of Delta could be swamped by floods in coming years as sea levels rise by two or three metres.

Using information gleaned from computer projections, researchers from the University of B.C. are warning that it's only a matter of time before the perfect storm rains down on the coastal community, flooding farmland, the Reifel Bird Sanctuary and much of the town of Ladner.

Scientist David Flanders presented the projections at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in the hopes of providing prevention ideas like building higher dykes or raising up buildings.

"Even if the community does get wet when the 100 or 200-year storm does come in -- which could come next week, we don't know -- the community can still function," Flanders told CTV News.

Dykes and berms are already in place, but sandbags are a yearly fixture as seawater encroaches on the city. The UBC researchers suggest that floods will eventually wipe out some vegetation and leave many homes uninhabitable.